The truth about traveling

It has been two months now that I am blogging and traveling and I am in the mood for some confessions. I would like to do something a bit different from what I’ve been doing until now. I would like to do a debrief about my travel and my blog on what I’ve done and what I’d like to do in the future.

What did I learn during these two months ? Is my travel matching my expectations ? How do I want to develop ? What do I expect from my blog ? and so on.

This is a little more personal and I will try to be as honest as possible with myself and you, my audience. This article is the first part of a series of two posts.

Why and how am I traveling ?

As you might know, I am traveling since two months with Wizardbonvin. He is vlogging about travel, entrepreneurship, and tech. You can check is videos here. I wanted to travel because I had to quit my job and I had a bit of money, time, and zero obligations. Plus, after studying and then working directly for 2,5 years, I never took the chance to travel for a long period of time and do something different. Also, I felt I had to experience this before I get older. Regarding Wizardbonvin, he was keen to travel because he didn’t have to work anymore and has enough money to do so. So we sold everything we had, packed our bags and left. We haven’t planned anything before and just went and see what happens out there. We are on the road since two months now.

Where have I been so far ?

For some reasons, being my health and his professional obligations, we couldn’t leave Europe yet. Which is totally fine. We had the opportunity to discover and get to know our continent better. I am very glad that I visited some places in East Europe for the first time. We’ve been to Switzerland, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and Serbia. We spent one month in Ibiza, where we stayed at friends of Wizardbonvin. Discovering Ibiza during winter was very interesting and unusual. I anyway don’t think I would like Ibiza during summer. All this party mood and the crowd would scare me and make me feel really uncomfortable. We are now in Portugal. We spent four days in Lisbon and we’re now in Faro until Christmas when we will fly to France.

The positive aspects of traveling

Discovering these places off-season was really cool. In some places, we were the only tourists. It is quiet and prices are lower. We did a couple of excursions and activities like kayaking, shooting guns, horse riding or driving a buggy and we were always the only ones with our guides which we appreciated very much.

So far, we’ve been traveling in the tourist mode meaning that we stay in Airbnbs or hotels, eat in restaurants and pay for excursions, visits, etc. It is quite enjoyable and we experienced great moments. What I love the most so far is this status of being free without responsibilities or obligations. We are free to decide where we want to go and when. This is priceless. I kind of start to take it for granted wich is maybe a little dangerous.

What I liked the most so far is really the little things like walking every day on the beach in Ibiza as well as swimming in the transparent water in late November, feeling the excitement when arriving in a new place, the beautiful sunsets in Zadar, Ibiza, Lisbon, and Faro. Last but not least, the horse ride is the pine forests and orange tree fields in Ibiza was amazing.

The negative aspects

On the other hand, off-season also means, low activity. A lot of places are closed and finding transportation modes is sometimes difficult. The weather isn’t that good and the night is falling earlier wich makes the atmosphere less festive as we can be used to when traveling during the high season.

Traveling isn’t always a pleasure and what you can read on the web is far from the reality. Arriving in a new place implies to get to know this place which is cool but also annoying for some aspects. Especially when you don’t follow travel guides like Lonely Planet. You spend a lot of time organizing, finding places to eat or to buy food, figuring out what you can do, how you can do it, and so on. We refuse to go to tourist agencies that are most of the time expensive and very touristy so we need to plan our own activities. When we go to a city, we always try to discover the hidden places or do things that are off the beaten path which makes it harder and sometimes there aren’t much interesting hidden places.

Traveling isn’t just going to a place and let the magic happens

I realized that if you want to experience something unusual you have to work a bit for that or spend money. Nothing falls from the trees as we say. At the end, nothing is really easy but that’s also stimulating which is a good thing.

What is coming next ?

After a short stop in France, we are going to fly to the US, starting with New York. We plan on going to Florida, Louisiana, Texas, California and maybe Las Vegas. That would be the first time for me there. I am really curious and excited about it. We plan on doing this trip in one month but we didn’t plan exactly how we want to do it. Again, we prefer not to plan so much in advance in order to be more flexible. Something I really want to try in the US or somewhere else is Workaway. The concept is simple: stay for free in exchange for help. I am curious about this way of traveling and I guess, it is a good way to meet interesting people and do something we would usually not do when we travel in a classic way. The only thing that holds me from doing it is my health. I’ve read many offers and it often seems to be physically demanding especially when you want to work at a horse ranch like I do. Plus, these places are often located far away from cities and hospitals. If you have already done that, I would love to hear your feedback.

The assessment of these two months of traveling is positive and I hope I will experience even more inspiring moments and leave a bit more my comfort zone in order to make this travel a shaping time of my life.

I will soon write a similar article about my blog answering some questions like: Why do I write this blog ? What I expect from it ? What are my goals ? etc. If you have questions about my blog or my travel, feel free to ask in the comment section below, on twitter by tagging @an_nethomas or on Facebook. I will be happy to answer them in my next article.

Thank you for reading. Take care and don’t forget to like exquisse on Facebook and follow me on twitter.